Detroit, MI

Hurter deals, Torkelson and Greene homer as Tigers clinch series over Red Sox

Published

4 months ago

September 1, 2024

Hurter deals, Torkelson and Greene homer as Tigers clinch series over Red Sox

Detroit — The crowd in Comerica Park felt something brewing.

After being held without a baserunner for the first four innings of Sunday’s rubber match against the Boston Red Sox, Kerry Carpenter opened the bottom of the fifth with a walk, ensuring the Tigers wouldn’t be victims of a perfect game in their own stadium.

Relieved with that — and after Boston lefty Rich Hill got Jace Jung to strike out — the announced crowd of 30,173 in attendance popped at the sound of Spencer Torkelson’s bat sending a second-pitch curveball over the wall in left field and into Detroit’s bullpen.

Torkelson had no doubt, moseying his way out of the batter’s box to admire his work, as he gave the Tigers a lead they’d never relinquish on the way to a series-clinching 4-1 win.

Detroit entered Sunday five games back of the Minnesota Twins for a wild-card spot. But it made up ground on the Red Sox, who are currently the first American League team out and sit just a half-game ahead of the Tigers.

It was a two-homer day for Detroit, as Riley Greene turned on a 92 mph cutter left over the middle of the plate in the sixth inning and smoked a line drive that snuck inside the right-field foul pole. Greene’s shot was also of the two-run variety, scoring Parker Meadows from first base.

Greene has a team-high 20 home runs, the most of his three-year career, and is up to 58 RBIs, which also leads the Tigers. Torkelson now has eight home runs on the season.

For as good as Boston starter Cooper Criswell was — no hits or walks allowed to go along with five strikeouts through four innings — Tigers lefty Brant Hurter kept Detroit in it. Hurter scattered six hits over five innings, allowing one run in the fifth before stranding two runners by forcing a groundout to second base.

Hurter also got the Tigers out of danger in the second frame. After Beau Brieske, who started the game, surrendered back-to-back one-out walks, Hunter was called out of the bullpen and induced an inning-ending double play on his first pitch.

It’s the sixth appearance of Hurter’s career, and the first in which he pitched at least five innings and allowed one or fewer runs; he’s gone for five or more innings on three other occasions, giving up two, two and three runs in outings against the Los Angeles Angels, New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants, respectively.

Will Vest and Jason Foley combined to pitch a scoreless 2⅔ innings to secure the win. The Tigers, who finish their home stand with a 4-2 record, will now head to California for a six-game road trip against the San Diego Padres from Sept. 2-5 and the Oakland Athletics from Sept. 6-8.

rsilva@detroitnews.com

@rich_silva18

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Detroit, MI

Phoenix faces Detroit in non-conference action

Published

7 hours ago

December 20, 2024

Press Room

Phoenix faces Detroit in non-conference action

Associated Press

Detroit Pistons (11-17, 11th in the Eastern Conference) vs. Phoenix Suns (14-12, ninth in the Western Conference)

Phoenix; Saturday, 9 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: The Detroit Pistons visit the Phoenix Suns in a non-conference matchup.

The Suns are 9-5 on their home court. Phoenix has a 3-6 record in games decided by 10 or more points.

The Pistons have gone 6-9 away from home. Detroit is eighth in the league with 45.3 rebounds per game led by Jalen Duren averaging 9.1.

The Suns are shooting 47.2% from the field this season, 0.5 percentage points higher than the 46.7% the Pistons allow to opponents. The Pistons are shooting 46.2% from the field, 0.7% lower than the 46.9% the Suns’ opponents have shot this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Devin Booker is averaging 25.1 points and 6.4 assists for the Suns.

Jaden Ivey is scoring 17.3 points per game and averaging 4.1 rebounds for the Pistons.

LAST 10 GAMES: Suns: 5-5, averaging 116.7 points, 42.5 rebounds, 28.5 assists, 7.8 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 49.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 114.2 points per game.

Pistons: 4-6, averaging 112.9 points, 41.8 rebounds, 27.0 assists, 7.9 steals and 4.9 blocks per game while shooting 47.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 119.0 points.

INJURIES: Suns: Collin Gillespie: day to day (ankle).

Pistons: Isaiah Stewart: day to day (knee), Jaden Ivey: day to day (knee).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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Detroit, MI

Detroit Tigers Most Productive Prospect For 2024 Season Revealed

Published

15 hours ago

December 19, 2024

Press Room

Detroit Tigers Most Productive Prospect For 2024 Season Revealed

The Detroit Tigers had success in a 2024 season that saw an epic playoff run from 9.5 games back in the Wild Card race in late August to coming within just one game of their first ALCS appearance in a decade, and a ton of that was due to contributions from young players.

But just because the fruits of the rebuild finally started to bear this season doesn’t mean the Tigers don’t still have a ton of young studs who haven’t even seen the Major League game yet. Though some has obviously been lost via trades and graduation to the pros over the years, Detroit still boasts one of the best farm systems in all of baseball.

From guys like Max Clark to Bryce Rainer to the soon-to-be star Jackson Jobe, there is certainly some young and exciting talent in the organization. That being said, the most productive of the bunch this season in the minor leagues took some people by surprise this season and seems to be well ahead of schedule. In their ranking of every team’s most productive farm system player in 2024, MLB.com’s article named middle infielder Kevin McGonigle as the Tigers’ most impressive.

“The Tigers were enthused to add McGonigle with the No. 37 overall pick in ’23 and over-the-moon with his early results in the Minors, particularly when it came to his plate discipline,” the article stated. “The left-handed-hitting middle infielder walked 46 times while striking out only 28 in 74 games between Single-A and High-A before suffering a season-ending right hamate fracture. His K/BB ratio was best among 1,081 Minor Leaguers who got at least 300 plate appearances in ’24.”

There’s no question as to whether or not McGonigle is ahead of schedule, he certainly is. Just how quickly he can get to the majors is obviously the next question, but he has yet to play in Double-A to this point. Nonetheless, McGonigle has put up wildly impressive OPS numbers of .863 and .853 during his two seasons from rookie ball through High-A.

With only 14 games of High-A ball experience under his belt. it will likely be a couple of years before he’s ready to make contributions at the MLB level. But McGonigle has clearly established himself as a name to closely monitor as he begins to climb the ranks and establish himself as a key piece of the future of the Detroit Tigers.

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